One might think that leading opinion makers in Western civilization, journalists, authors, academics, clergy and pundits would stand aghast and in deep condemnation of any society or organization that acted like the Gambinos on steroids; but somehow, when it comes to Hezbollah, one would be wrong.

A New York Times article of December 13 revealed, for the first time in US mainstream media, Hezbollahs complex involvement, deep cooperation, and in some cases partnership, with international crime cartels, Columbian drug smuggling organizations, international gem smuggling, and Mexican street gangs. Hezbollahs motivation for involvement in these illegal endeavors, despite its name Party of God and despite its stated goal of creating a society on earth that carries out the will of Allah, is its need for clean money.

Hezbollahs main sugar daddy, Iran, is in financial turmoil. Syria, its secondary sponsor, is in political and economic collapse. Hezbollah needs money, so it has expanded and innovated in its global web of criminal activities in order to finance its terrorism and its preparation for war. But it needs clean money. Hezbollahs global money laundering schemes take drug money and auto theft profits and turn them into clean, usable cash to pay salaries, buy what Hezbollah needs to support its charitable endeavors, and underwrite the purchase of weapons and of militarily strategic property in Lebanon, especially from Christians.

The New York Times is neither a Jewish nor a Zionist newspaper. In fact, its owners in bygone years openly expressed their antipathy to Zionism, an antipathy so strong that they stood silent, in passive collusion, as Nazi Germany annihilated Europes Jewry, lest the Times exposure of Nazi crimes before and during World War II might lend support to Zionist calls for a Jewish state (see Laurel Leffs Buried in the Times: The Holocaust and Americas Most important Newspaper, summarized here). One can thus be confident that its exposé of Hezbollah is accurate and not merely Zionist propaganda.

So the Times revelation of such a list of illicit gains, criminal activity and partnership with criminal gangs ought to make Western supporters cringe and announce the withdrawal of any support they may have given, reverse any supportive words they may have said. But so far neither Noam Chomsky nor Norman Finkelstein, both outspoken lionizers of Hezbollah, has done so, nor have any of the academics on public record for expressing support for Hezbollah and describing them as brave and noble freedom fighters. Muslims are divided today about the legitimacy of funds to Hezbollah, but world-wide many still continue to contribute to charities that may be, or have been, operating as fronts for Hezbollah.

But in addition to the mafia-like activities, including but not limited to the drug dealing, gun running, auto and gem theft, and money laundering mentioned above (and see here, here, here, and here for other exposés of Hezbollahs criminal activity), Hezbollah is known to have kidnapped, tortured, and murdered American officials in Lebanon and elsewhere since 1982; used terrorist attacks for assassinations that involved the mass murder of innocent Arabs; engaged in armed robbery; launched terror attacks on American and other European soldiers stationed in Lebanon at the request of the Lebanese government; used assassinations and intimidation and threats of violence and terrorism to undermine the government of Lebanon; and become a dominant terrorist state within the state of Lebanon and now dominates Lebanon.

So even God-fearing Muslims who understand Islam to be a religion of peace and tolerance should blanch at Hezbollahs long list of criminal and terrorist activities, many of which harm Muslims, and deny them any support or sympathy.

But in addition to the above, there are aspects of Hezbollahs ideology that should brand it a rogue state-within-a-state incompatible with 21st century sensibilities.

Its extreme brand of Shiite Islam seeks to re-instate Sharia law as a legal and political system, a system that submits all non-Muslims to dhimma, a form of religious apartheid suppressing all non-Muslims, universal to all Muslim states until the 20th century; and to create a legitimized form of gender apartheid relegating women to the bedroom and kitchen, on pain of extreme and cruel punishments such as acid disfigurement, beheading, or stoning.

Hezbollahs leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has demanded that Muslims engage in suicide bombings in the USA to kill Americans; and part of Hezbollahs extremist Muslim ideology includes making Islam supreme in the world and bringing Western civilization to an end.

So Christians of all denominations, without any commitment to Israel, and even those who feel antipathy to Israel for whatever reason, ought to be horrified by Hezbollahs criminal activities, terrorist tactics, violent strategies, apartheid social ideology, supremacist religious ideology and long-term triumphalist goal of Islamic world domination, goals for which terrorism and mass murder and criminal actions are all justified, according to Hezbollahs ideology.

Yet we hear no words, witness no deeds, at least on the level of public expression, from all but a small number of Christian or Muslim individuals or institutions; and, not unexpectedly, those in the West who have in the past expressed their support and sympathy for Hezbollah, identifying it as a noble freedom-fighting organization engaged in legitimate resistance against an obdurate and vastly more powerful enemy, have as yet made no acknowledgement of the obvious contradiction between supposedly good and noble people fighting for their rights and these same people engaging in evil crimes to achieve the evil goals of genocide and world domination.

So why are most of the worlds Muslims silent before the evil words and murderous deeds of Hezbollah? Can they all be intimidated by threats of retaliation from Hezbollah and those who share its goals? Or do some otherwise peaceful Muslims secretly share Hezbollahs goals?

Why do so few Christians and Christian churches speak out against Hezbollahs crimes? Why are so many silent or overtly supportive? Can those who support Hezbollah hate the Jewish state more than they love their Jewish Savior?

In light of the New York Times exposé, no journalist, no academic, no pundit and no holder of public office can honestly claim ignorance; and none have any excuse to remain silent. Yet they are silent.

Incitement to genocide is evil, attempted genocide is evil. Apartheid and oppression and lust for world domination  all evil.

Hezbollah is evil. It speaks evil, it does evil and it promises more of the same evil and worse without end until Israel is destroyed, its Jews annihilated and all global unbelief, Christian, Jewish, Hindu and whatever else, is reduced to dhimmitude.

Silence in the face of evil is complicity. Complicity with evil is evil.

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